Damon Salvatore (novel)
Damon Salvatore is a centuries old vampire along with his younger brother Stefan. He is the main antagonist/anti-hero and a main character of the series. He is the eldest son of Giuseppe Salvatore and his un-named mother (who died a few years after Stefan's birth) the elder brother of Stefan Salvatore, the former flame of Katherine Von Swartzschild and a competitor for Elena's Gilbert's affections. Damon was born during the Renaissance period in Florence, Italy. Like his brother Stefan, Damon came from a Italian noble family. Damon and his brother Stefan both fell in love with a young and beautiful vampire named Katherine Von Swartzchild. Both brothers became intense rivals and competitors for her affections and this caused the rivalry between the two Salvatore brothers to heat up rather intensely. Katherine is Damon's maker and she transformed Damon, as well as his brother Stefan, into vampires by giving both of them her blood in hopes that they would resolve their lifelong rivalry and all of them could live happily ever after together. When this did not work however, Katherine felt both guilty and extremely hurt that they would not end their rivalry and hatred with one another and so Katherine ended up "committing suicide" (later on revealed to be her fake death), in order for the brothers to come together and grieve her loss. However, her "suicide" only caused the brother's to hate each other even more and both of them blamed each other for her death. Because of this, both brothers ended up fighting to the death. Damon stabbed and killed his younger brother Stefan, triggering his transformation into a vampire. But Stefan also stabbed and killed Damon with the little bit of strength that he had left and this also triggered Damon's transformation into a vampire. Because of the intense hatred, rivalry and threats that he gave to Stefan, Stefan ended up leaving his hometown and decided to get away from his brother and his dark past. Stefan settled in an American town called Fells Church, which is located in Virginia. Later on, Damon decides to follow him to the town and wreak havoc on the town as much as he can, in order to torment Stefan and make his life miserable. Damon sees that Stefan falls in love with Elena Gilbert. Out of jealousy and revenge against his brother, he craved to make Elena Gilbert his Princess of Darkness and possess and control her mind, body and soul, but was often angered and jealous when Elena repeatedly remained fiercely loyal to Stefan, her love for him and their relationship. 'Physical Appearance' Physically, Damon is described as being gorgeous, handsome, darkly seductive and sexy. Damon attracts women to him like a moth to a flame. He has a dark shock of straight black hair, pitch black eyes like a midnight sky, pale skinned complexion and he has a slim, muscular body type. A quote from The Awakening describes his appearance as follows: "He was remarkably good-looking. His face was pale in the artificial twilight, but she could see that his features were cleanly defined and nearly perfect under a shock of dark hair. Those cheekbones were a sculptor's dream." Damon is not that tall and he is also not as tall as his younger brother Stefan. He is shorter then his younger brother (Damon is approx. 5'5" to 5'7", no taller then 5'8") and because he is not tall, Damon has said that he doesn't like tall girls and prefers petite, small girls like Bonnie. Stefan and Damon have a very strong physical resemblance to each other. Elena describes this resemblance between Stefan and Damon in'' The Struggle:'' “He (Damon) looked like Stefan. She didn’t know how she could have missed that before. He had the same dark hair, the same pale skin, and the same ‘disturbing’ good looks. But his hair was straight, not wavy, and his eyes were black as midnight, and his mouth was cruel.” Damon most often wears black clothing. He seems to favor black leather riding boots as footwear, black jeans, a black belt, black sweater and a black leather jacket. Like his brother Stefan, Damon wears a lapis lazuli ring on the middle finger of his left hand, which was given to him by Katherine, in order for him to walk around in the sunlight. 'Personality' Damon is known to be the bad vampire brother of the series. He is the complete opposite of his moral and benevolent younger brother, Stefan. Personality wise, Damon is described to be sinister, dangerous, generally unkind, uncaring, cold hearted, ruthless and unsympathetic. He is also sadistic, unmerciful, remorseless, careless, cruel, arrogant and impulsive. Damon is a seductively charming and a very dark, compelling character. His history dates back to Renaissance Italy. Over the many centuries that he has lived, Damon uses whatever and whoever he can to get what he wants, not caring about who he hurts in the process. He generally acts flippant, arrogant, and constantly plays word games, especially when it comes to dancing around an issue, and even more especially when that issue involves his true feelings on a serious subject (such as his caring attitude towards humans and even his feelings for Bonnie). Damon is a certified Don Juan and a womanizer. He is highly appealing to women and he attracts them like a moth to a flame. Damon has an aristocratic, elegant demeanor and a very pragmatic outlook on life. He believes that the vampire nature is inherently dark, that they are natural hunters and predators who are meant to kill and therefore, he believes that Stefan's attempts to not kill and feed on humans are therefore unnatural. Although Damon repeatedly admits to passionately loathing his younger brother Stefan, it has been evident throughout the course of the series that somewhere deep down, Damon does in fact love and care about the younger Salvatore. Damon has absolutely no problem with killing innocent humans, has no remorse for it and he lacks any kind of a moral conscience whatsoever. He kills Mr. Tanner, but claims he did so only because Tanner pulled a knife on him and that it was thus, self-defense. He also has no issue whatsoever with threatening and intimidating small children. Since Elena gave into his blackmail - it'll never be known whether he really would've gone through with his threats to hurt her little sister, Margaret. He has a significantly very violent history due to his early vampire life, when he started his own mercenary company. Although we are given no glimpses into this mercenary life, it is strongly implied that he did very bad and immoral things with absolutely no regrets about it, and would have little to no problem with doing them again. Despite his generally dark and sinister nature, besides showing some concern for his brother Stefan, he has shown feelings towards Elena and Bonnie. Damon deeply and strongly cares for Bonnie McCullough. Their relationship and connection throughout the course of the series has been very under the radar for the most part, but there have been many hints suggesting a secret, strong and undeniable bond'' between the two of them. Damon and Bonnie have a magnetic, electrifying, intense but also tender connection/bond. However, throughout the series, Damon has been so inherently focused and obsessed with possessing Bonnie's best friend, Elena Gilbert; body, mind and soul. Despite Damon's over-zealous obsession with Elena, Damon frequently shows to have a special soft or weak spot for Bonnie. She was the first person to reveal Damon's deeply buried, hidden humanity without any effort while he was still a vampire, long before Elena ever managed to do so. Bonnie tempers Damon's inner darkness and she has effortlessly brought out the softer, more tender side of him; revealing the ''true inner Damon which has been locked inside and surrounded by thick walls for centuries. A quote in The Return: Nightfall displays this:'' "With something inside him singing, he clutched Bonnie to him, feeling the wet towel through the raw silk shirt, and feeling Bonnie's slight body under the towel. Definitely a maiden, and not a child, he thought dizzily, whatever the writing on that infamous scrap of pink nylon had claimed." The quote continues:'' "He clutched at her as if he needed her for blood - as if they were in hurricane-tossed seas and to let go of her would be to lose her." A quote in ''The Return: Nightfall goes on to show Bonnie affecting Damon's soul during an intense moment between them: "His neck hurt fiercely, but more cracks were spreading all over the stone; it was going to explode completely, letting the Damon it held inside out —and he was too drunk on pride and joy, yes, joy, to care. Cracks were spreading in every direction, pieces of stone flying off....Bonnie pushed him away." Damon has frequently saved the damsel-in-distress' (Bonnie's) life on many occasions and he is always there for her whenever she needs his help. Damon is also very protective of her and he refuses to harm her, bite her or drink her blood under any circumstances, although the real and main reason for this is not explained or identified. Damon is always saving Bonnie and has done so so many times throughout the entire series. He has been seen to be subconsciously very tender, nurturing and caring towards her (he has played the role of caretaker with her, especially in The Return: Nightfall, when Bonnie is poisoned by an unknown toxin from a tree and he uses his own blood as a medicine to help heal her and save her life). On the outside, Damon seems to look at her as somewhat of an innocent "child" who is immature physically, mentally and emotionally, even though she is the exact same age as Elena. Damon appears to be ultimately fascinated by, sexually attracted to and drawn to her softness, her kind-hearted nature, fragility, purity, her innocence and her maidenly persona. There is a definite indescribable, undeniable and strong connection between the two of them, although Elena happens to receive more attention from him. In a way, Damon has consistently taken his connection with Bonnie for granted, although Bonnie tends to not understand this due to her lack of maturity throughout the course of the series. Despite the fact that Bonnie naturally brings out the human side in Damon without absolutely any effort and Damon brings out a stronger, significantly more stable, serious, mature side of Bonnie, they have had a somewhat tumultuous relationship throughout the series. Damon does have a frequent tendency to avoid Bonnie at times. Damon often tends to be in huge denial when it comes to admitting that he cares for Bonnie, most likely due to his intense, indescribable feelings for her (Bonnie). Bonnie brings out the'' true Damon'' and his humanity much more then Elena has or ever does. Damon's morality is always and constantly in question — and he is constantly suspected of mischief, causing trouble and committing immoral acts. The intense darkness within Damon is also noticed by Katherine in'' The Fury.'' In The Fury, Katherine offers to let Damon live and for him to reign in the darkness and in the shadows with her, an offer both Elena and Stefan strongly believe he will accept, although in the end, he tells her surprisingly to "Go to hell." It was also revealed in The Fury, when Katherine kidnapped Damon, Stefan and Elena and had them tied up and tortured them in order to get back at the Salvatore brothers for what they had done to her, that although Katherine was drawn to Damon and cared for him, Katherine had always loved his brother Stefan much more then she had ever loved Damon. Damon is described as extremely relentless. He never takes danger too seriously and possesses a very dark sense of humor, which Stefan describes as "Damon humor". Damon has very little regard for human life; the complete opposite of Stefan. Damon is regarded as one of the strongest vampires who reside on Earth. This comes from all of the innocent humans that he has killed for their blood and the amount of human blood that he's consumed over the many years. He has strong feelings of desire and passion for Elena, especially in The Fury, that is not understood by others whatsoever. In The Return: Shadow Souls, it is also revealed that Elena also has strong feelings for Damon, who is now in love with Elena, but Elena does not share this knowledge with any of her friends, supporting their beliefs that Damon is taking advantage of her. For a short while, Damon showed who he really could be like: caring for others, including his own brother, Stefan, whom he states he has hated his whole life, not acting selfish and/or self absorbed, and acting like a generally caring, helpful person (for example, around Bonnie, whenever she asked for Damon's help). But Damon reverted back to his old, darker and 'true' self when Shinichi took his memories from when he had met him until then. Although Damon initially hates and loathes his younger brother, Stefan Salvatore, Damon has shown that he cares for him from time to time. Damon shows feelings of passion, desire and attraction towards Elena Gilbert. Damon shows deep, tender (but highly intense and passionate) feelings for Bonnie McCullough. Damon admits to being scared of Meredith Sulez, and he strongly dislikes Matt Honeycutt, whom he refers to as "Mutt", instead of Matt. Damon's nicknames include Prince Of Darkness (a self described nickname) and "Brother" (sometimes used by Stefan Salvatore). '''Powers and Abilities Damon has the average powers of a vampire: *'Immortality: '''Damon had been "alive" since the Renaissance Period. *'Super Speed: Damon has proved to be very fast, moving faster than Stefan could keep up, because he drinks human blood. It is also seen when Stefan is kidnapped, he could easily out run Elena. *'Superhuman Senses: '''Damon can hear, smell and see clearer and better that the average human. He, like Stefan, can also sense the presence of other minds around him. *'Telepathy: 'Damon often talks to Stefan telepathically. He continues this with Elena. Damon has also been seen to use telepathy with Bonnie. *'Healing: 'Damon focuses his powers to heal at an accelerated speed. however, when weak, he can't do this properly. *'Mental Manipulation/Persuasion: Damon's ability to persuade other to do what he wants is usually when he wants to feed. He can also use this power to put others to sleep at a far distance. He frequently uses this power on Elena. *'Shape-Shifting: '''Damon is strong enough to turn into a crow. He has even turned into a wolf. *'Weather Manipulation: Damon can control the weather around him, often making it cloudy so he doesn't have to contend with the sun. '''Biography 'Early History' Damon was born in Renaissance Florence, Italy along with his brother Stefan to Giuseppe Conte di Salvatore and an unnamed mother (see Stefan and Damon's Mother). Damon always resented Stefan because their mother had been greatly weakened by his birth and died. Whenever his father was drunk and in a temper, he would beat Damon, scarring his childhood. Damon grew to be a charming and handsome aristocrat, tutored in his education, but living dangerously. His father was infuriated when Damon announced that he was quitting University. He was also attracted to their guest's, Baron von Swartzchild's, daughter Katherine von Swartzchild. He and Stefan became rivals for her affections and had her chose which one of them she wished for her husband. To their shock, Katherine chose both brothers, but neither could accept this. Katherine was heartbroken and decided to right their rivalry by committing suicide, but this only made the situation worse, and the brothers fought to the death, killing each other with their swords. They awoke in their tombs as vampires, having shared blood with Katherine. Damon joined the Free Companies, drinking the blood of his victims and becoming immensely powerful. He came across Stefan years later and warned him to stay away or Damon would kill him. Stefan obeyed and left Florence. Damon always kept an eye on Stefan though and followed him to the New World. The Awakening Damon came to Fell's Church to discover that Elena Gilbert resembled Katherine von Swartzchild, his creator, and planned to make her his Princess of Darkness, but she was dating his younger brother Stefan. While Elena and her friends, Meredith Sulez and Bonnie McCullough were planning the Haunted House for Halloween, the lights in the school went out so Meredith and Bonnie went to find the janitor, Mr. Shelby, leaving Elena alone. Damon was in the gym with Elena and startled her with his presence. He mesmerized her, temporarily causing her to forget Stefan, but as he leaned in to kiss her, she remembered her love for Stefan, remaining loyal to him and backed away. Frustrated, Damon let her leave when he would tell her what he had come for, but as she reached the door, he said he had found what he came for: Elena. Elena turned around, but Damon was gone. Elena was highly uneasy with this encounter, as not soon after wards, she came across Damon again. Bonnie had shown Elena the ritual to see who your future husband was and when Elena said "come in" she accidentally invited Damon into the house. Again, Damon used his charm and poetry to woe her, but Elena resisted, angering him. After he left, Elena found Bonnie and Meredith outside with Bonnie's mother's dog; he was dead. Damon went to the Halloween Party dressed as the Grim Reaper. During the party, he killed Mr. Tanner, the European History teacher, draining him of all his blood. Bonnie discovered his death and Tyler Smallwood immediately suspected Stefan as the culprit. Elena had Matt give Stefan a warning to leave, but when she found Stefan, she discovered he was a vampire. Stefan explained who he was to her and about his and Damon's rivalry for Katherine's affections. Elena told him that Damon was behind the attacks and that he was in town too. She accepted who Stefan was and exchanged blood with him. Stefan later went out into the woods and confronted Damon. Stefan warned Damon to stay away from Elena, but Damon attacked him in a violent manner, bit him and drained quite a lot of blood from his little brother. Stefan stumbled away from Damon weakened by blood loss, but then fell unconscious. When Stefan went missing, Elena suspected Damon was behind it all and deeply angered and furious, she ran to the cemetery and called for him to confront her. The Struggle Elena called for Damon again and he responded. Initially furious at Damon, Elena demanded to know where Stefan was, but Damon was very unhelpful. Damon also feeds off of Elena while she dreams about the two of them dancing in a ballroom. Later, when Elena, Bonnie and Merideth break into Caroline Forbes houst to stell back Elena's diary, when the Forbes return home, Elena is seperated from Bonnie and Merideth. She manages to get past the master bedroom and onto the balcony where she attempts to get on the roof when Mr. Forbs comes out. As she trys to climb up Damon pulls her up. While there they trade witty comments until Elena jumps off the roof. Damon catchs her and tells her to go home. Later Elena goes home and is introduced to 'Damon Smith' by her future uncle Robert. While at dinner the two again argue under metaphores. When Margret comes in with her new cat, Elean grabs it and throws it at Damon, then leaving dinner. Damon shows up that night, and is furious when he cant come into Elena's room, as part of the house burned in the Civil War. He threatens Margret, which leads to him exchanging blood with Elena. Damon also apears at the end of the book when he replaces Elena's stolen diary with Caroline's. He is with Judith and Robert when Elena runs off, leading to her death. She also believes the wind that pushes her into the water is Damon for a short time, but soon realizes its far more powerful than him. At the end of the book Damon and Stefan begin there fight, starting as a crow and a falcoln, eventually becoming human. The Fury When Elena first awakens as a vampire, Damon is pleased to see she had more blood from him, thus pulling Stefan (who recently fed off of many humans) off of Damon. She then goes off with Damon, who stops her from killing several nearby cops inspecting her death scene. Stefan convinces Damon to meet him at the school. There Elena feeds off of Matt. Damon then takes her (much to Stefans dismay) to Alaric's attic. Before this though, she begs for her diary, which he gives her. He leaves Elena there and goes off on some buisness. Leaving Elena confused as to why he didn't kiss her. Later, when the haze disappears and Elena begins to think clearly again, she reflects on how grateful and suprised she is that Damon hadn't taken advantage of her. Damon is also there when Stefan is taken by Mr. Forbes. He turns into a black wolf and gets there quickest. Even when one of the men there are about to shot him he still attempts to fight. Elena shows up in time however. He also is there when he, Stefan and Elena are all kidnapped by Katherine. Katherine (in a rage over Elena and Stefan) tells Damon they could run away together and that all he has to do is help her kill them. He says "Go to hell" which leads to him nearly being killed. Both Elena and Stefan are shocked by this and both mention that they thought he would betray them. When Elena is dying she has the brothers promise to take care of eachother which they both swear. Damon is vaguley mentioned to cry when Elene dies. In Bonnie's diary, she mentions Damon left soon after the events, and that he shouldn't be suprised to have a shadow, as Stefan was set on keeping his promise. Dark Reunion Six months after Elena's death, Damon lives in Florence Italy with Stefan who kept his promise to Elena to always look out for his brother. Stefan finds Damon in his room peeling an apple and scowls him for wooing and feeding on a girl without erasing her memory. Damon doesn't care and as Stefan turns to leave, Bonnie's summoning spell gets through to Stefan, calling him back to Fell's Church. Damon accompanies him, much to Matt Honeycutt, Bonnie McCullough and Meredith Sulez's shock. The group went to Vickie Bennett's house, and Damon used his Powers to put her parents to sleep for a while. Stefan coaxed Vickie to invite him in the house, and while he tried to get information out of her, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, frightening everyone. Bonnie grabbed at Damon's arm for support, but embarrassingly let go when she saw who it was. Damon however pointed towards Vickie's mirror which was covered with the words "Goodnight Sweetheart". Damon took the first watch in guarding Vickie. Stefan returned for his watch and warned Damon that the town had had enough drama,and while going for something to eat, to erase the individual's memory. Damon started to walk off when Stefan thanked him, but Damon warned him not to expect too much from him. Later, when Damon came to take his watch, he found Bonnie there. She had been startled by him and was immediately taken by him against the nighttime. Damon kissed her but was interrupted by a furious-looking Matt, who told Bonnie to go to the car. Matt got into an argument with Damon but defended himself, impressing Damon in the very slightest. Stefan, Meredith, Matt and Bonnie discovered from Tyler Smallwood that Vickie was about to be attacked and returned to her house only to find her dead. Stefan was furious with Damon for not protected her and yelled at him until Damon finally punched him in the face. Meredith and Bonnie immediately went to Stefan while Matt stood between them. Damon decided to leave and warned his brother not to follow. Stefan remained the only vampire who could protect the group, but went to fight Klaus, the vampire behind the attacks and Katherine's creator. Stefan fought bravely, but lost the fight and as Klaus was about to kill Stefan, a rod of white-ash wood logged itself into Klaus's back. Damon had returned and yelled at Klaus to stay away from his brother. Klaus ran off and Damon fell at Stefan's side, horrified by his brother's condition. Bonnie offered to feed Stefan her blood to strengthen him, but Stefan refused to break his promise, being called a fool by Damon. Stefan ordered Damon to take the others to safety just as Klaus returned. Damon tried to attack, but Klaus blasted him with lightning, knocking him unconscious. By Bonnie's cries for help, the spirits of Fell's Church, those who had died in the Civil War, awoke and followed Elena's spirit to the group. The summer solstice had begun. The spirits took Klaus away to a place he would no longer hurt anyone. Elena healed Stefan, Matt, Damon, Meredith, Caroline and Bonnie before being forced to move on. Damon saw his little brother's heart get ripped apart again by her lost, but a sudden blast of energy flashed across the sky and Elena returned to them, alive and human. Everyone was overjoyed but Damon remained distant, offering his jacket to Elena for warmth. Stefan asked why Damon didn't attempt to help Vickie, and Damon told him that he hadn't been invited into the house, so he couldn't even try. Damon turned away and flew off as a crow. Everyone else celebrated Elena return. The Return: Nightfall In this book, Damon is taken over by the malach. He is controlled, and seems to be showing his usual dark side. He also gets rid of Stefan, and replaces Stefan's goodbye letter to Elena with his own. While possessed by the malach, he also hurts Matt very badly and kidnaps Elena. While in the car with him, Damon feeds off of her in a violent fashion. Elena however makes her escape, and Damon gains control of his body minutes later. After this, he faces Shinichi he demands to know where Elena is. He also swears to kill anybody who hurt her. Shinichi laughs, (As Damon was the one who hurt her) and says he hopes he holds to his promises. Latter, Elena manages to save Damon by getting rid of the malach using Wings of Purification. After this Damon cries and begs her to forgive him, which she does. They then make a plan to take Shinich down. Latter Elena watches Damon as he watches in delight as Shinichi prepare to kill Matt, Meridith and Bonnie. Elena fears Damon is evil again, but is however relieved when Damon saves her in the final confrentation. Damon then fights Shinichi demanding he tell him where Stefan is. At the end of the book Damon trades all of his memories from the time he first met Shinich until then, to get a map of Stefan's location. Elena was deeply saddend by Damon losing his memories, as he had made a dramatic change since then that she liked. In the end Elena, Damon and Matt go on the run. The Return: Shadow Souls At the end of The return: Shadow Souls, Damon was turned into a mortal human, although Stefan's humanity was supposed to be given back, but Damon took it instead by accident and now has to deal with the suffering of dealing with humanity when Damon wants absolutely nothing to do with it whatsoever. Damon and Stefan only wish they could switch places now (Stefan as a human and Damon as a vampire). .]] In the television series, Damon is portrayed by Ian Somerhalder. Damon remains charming and dangerous like his novel counterpart, and shares several aspects of his personality. See Also * Damon Salvatore - Information of the television series character. Category:Vampire Diaries Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Vampires Category:Supernatural Category:Secret-Keepers Category:Salvatore Family Category:Novel-Only Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Anti-Heroes Category:Male